£Money

We’re now saving well over over two and half grand a year, and will have made our money back in just a few years.

Last year our energy costs looked like this:

Energy Costs 2015

Gas

£10 + £80 standing charge = £90

Electricity

£400 + £60 standing charge = £460

Solar PV income

-£475

Solar Thermal income

-£250

Air Source Heat Pump income

-£1,000

Total

£1,175 income

Annual Saving

Energy Costs Before

£1,500 a year

Typical Energy Costs After, until 2021

£1,250 income

Saving

£2,750

This shows that in summer when the days are long and bright we’re paid more for our solar PV (the yellow line is below zero), but in winter with the heating on, we buy more from the grid.

In Spring 2014 the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) began, and we started getting paid for the renewable heat generated by our heat pump and solar thermal. It is difficult to meter the amount of heat generated so they pay a fixed rate, which is why the light green lines are straight.

We now only use gas for cooking, so if we replace our cooker with an induction hob/electric oven we could completely disconnect the gas and save the standing charge.

Increase in House Value

In Yorkshire & Humberside improving the energy efficiency rating of your home from G to A/B gives an average price increase of 24%.

Improving the efficiency of your home significantly adds to it value.

A serious piece of research by DECC looked at the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) Ratings of 300,000 homes across England, and sale prices. It found energy saving improvements added an average of 14% to the sale price – but up to a whopping 38% in some parts of England.

For our house, based on these figures, we might expect a 20% increase in value – £24,000.

Payback Time

Bills Before

£1,500 a year

Investment

£32,000

Bills after, 2014-2021
includes income from the RHI and FiT

-£1,250

Bills 2021-2023
includes FiT

£0

Payback Time

15 years

I think that payback time is pretty good.

However, if we account for the increase in house value, then the result becomes dramatic: